This Sunday on Fine Tuning I’ll be featuring “Sad and Beautiful World,” the first album in six years by Mavis Staples, the last surviving member of the hit-making gospel and R&B group The Staple Singers. Destined to make it into my list of top ten albums for 2025, Mavis’ latest features poignant and masterful cover versions of songs written by the likes of Tom Waits, Frank Ocean, Leonard Cohen and Curtis Mayfield. I’ll also have a major birthday tribute to Gene Clark, a founding member of the Byrds. Gene would’ve been turning 81 on Nov. 17th, and I’ll play Byrds tracks along with a number on songs from his often-overlooked solo career. Fine Tuning: Sundays from 4 to 6 p.m. on ann arbor’s 107one.
